Developing and Piloting an Implementation Strategy for a Brief, Motivational Interviewing-based Lethal Means Safety Counseling Intervention in Primary Care Settings

Suicide prevention remains a significant priority and nearly three-quarters of Veteran suicides result from firearm injury. Since access to lethal means of self-harm increases the risk of injury, the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines recommend that Veterans with elevated suicide risk receive lethal means safety (LMS) counseling to reduce access to lethal means, including firearms. However, no LMS counseling interventions have been tested within VA. Thus, the aim of this study is to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a tailored LMS counseling intervention compared to an active control condition.

This is a pilot randomized controlled trial of up to 50 Veterans to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a LMS intervention and testing procedures.